Thought for the Month
Join me each month as I ponder life with all the highs and lows we encounter along the way.
I hope you enjoy my blog whose aim is to raise a smile as well as give food for thought.
As always, I would love to hear from you, so please contact me 01278 781147 c.judson@btinternet.com
God bless you.
Rev Chris
April 2025 ‘Passion and Passivity’
Are you passionate? I wonder, what you are passionate about? How do you show that passion? What difference does it make?
From the Song of Solomon (8: 6) in the Old Testament of the Bible, a reading that is popular at weddings speaks of passion: ‘Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.’
Why all this talk of passion? Surely hearts carved on trees and Valentine’s Day belong in February? Very true, but Passion Sunday this year is on 6th April! I guess any and every day is a good time to show your feelings for those you love, but as we approach what is referred to as ‘The Passion of Christ’ we find that Jesus showed his passion for us by being passive, allowing himself to be taken by the soldiers, put on trial and executed, on what we now call Good Friday. Passiontide marks the fortnight before Easter Day, when we remember all that happened leading up to Jesus’ death – showing the depths of God’s passion for us all, marked out on a different sort of wood.
It won’t be long before we are remembering the importance of this by eating hot-cross buns – which I very much hope you enjoy – and then Easter Eggs, to celebrate that Jesus rose from the grave, leaving behind an empty tomb. But let’s not rush ahead too quickly!
Passiontide is not an easy time, but it reminds me of one of my favourite children’s books, by Sam McBratney, where two Nutbrown Hares (one Little and the other Big) compete with each other to say how much they love each other (‘Guess how much I love you’). At the end of a tiring day when, just before drifting off to sleep, Little Nutbrown Hare has said ‘I love you right up to the Moon!’, Big Nutbrown Hare whispers into his ear ‘I love you right up to the Moon – and back!’.
The empty tomb of Easter is truly wonderful! It shows us that even faced with the worst that humanity can do, God still has a way through.
Easter is joyful and marvellous and filled with ‘Alleluias!’ However you choose to celebrate Easter this year, may it bring you great happiness – and may it hold within it the good news of ‘Good Friday’ – that you are loved and treasured ‘to the Moon and back’ by the one who made you and delights in you!
God bless you, Rev Chris
March 2025 ‘Smarties and Lent’
I wonder what Lent means to you? As a young child, it meant ‘smarties’ to me. At Sunday School we were each given a tube of smarties, invited to enjoy the sweets and then, through Lent, to fill the tube with pennies that would be given to a suitable charity at the end of this time. Admittedly this was a little confusing, as there was at the same time the idea that we might give up chocolate for Lent – but as the smarties disappeared rather quickly, this was not a problem for long!
Fasting, Giving and Praying are all active parts of ‘Lent’, a term that comes from the middle English word for Spring – when the days lengthen. To get ready for the ‘Fasting’ – a clearing out of the kitchen cupboards, using up milk, fats and eggs in pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Then the start of Lent, with the traditional ashing (signing on the forehead with a cross of ash, as a way of saying sorry to God, and remembering who we are) leads us into 40 days (not including Sundays) when we remember Jesus being tested in the desert, and his discerning guidance for all that his life would lead him into.
This Lent we are invited to journey into a Living Hope. Booklets are available to guide us, as are a host of multimedia resources, podcasts etc and The Big Church Read Lent Book 2025: ‘Wild Bright Hope’. We all need hope! Not just optimism, but real hope, which is an attitude of life and a gift of God. The twelve young contributors to ‘Wild Bright Hope’ come from diverse backgrounds and seek to provoke us to think, as they focus on different aspects of hope. One describes how she discovered ‘that God could be more wild, more everyday, more present’ than she could ever imagine, and another describes prayer as ‘the language of hope’, ‘a radical act’ that not only seeks comfort but is an act of defiance against despair! Details of these and many other helpful resources (including the Everyday Faith Ap) can be found via our website, and they can be used alone or with others. As well as these supports to an active Lent, don’t forget the ‘Lenten Peace’ sessions across our Benefice, providing an opportunity to simply ‘be still’.
Whatever shape your Lent takes this year, may it be a time of growth for you, leading you further into a living hope.
With love in Christ, Rev Chris